Tag Archives: marina

Water bet to lose! Henry Winter to swim the Tyne after losing deal over Pardew staying at Newcastle boss

|

UPDATED:

08:56 GMT, 2 October 2012

Newcastle's match with Manchester United does not kick off until 4pm on Sunday, but Geordie fans may want to leave home much earlier.

If they head down to the Tyne for 11am, they will be treated to the sight of football reporter Henry Winter swimming across the city's river.

After losing a bet over the future of Newcastle boss Alan Pardew, the Daily Telegraph man will don his wetsuit and googles for the crossing.

Winning: Alan Pardew has been a revelation as Newcastle manager

When Pardew signed a five-year contract in 2010, Winter predicted that he would not see out the deal.

However, Pardew agreed a whopping eight-year deal last week and now the reporter has decided to keep to his side of the bet.

He wrote: 'When Alan Pardew became Newcastle manager in 2010, I ventured that he was unlikely to see out his contract. He has completed two years, is doing incredibly well, and has a new eight-year deal, so it is only fair to take that dip in the Tyne.

Winter chill: The River Tyne cuts through the middle of the city

'I will be diving in at NE1 Newcastle City Marina heading for the pontoon at HMS Calliope on the Gateshead bank. It is to raise money for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and to honour a stupid bet.

'All the authorities have been helpful, from the Port of Tyne, Newcastle City Marina, Northumbrian Water, HMS Calliope, sea cadets, the dredger Sir Bobby Robson, expert local swimmer Tony Greener and many others. 11am sharp. Tyne and tide wait for no man.'

Alonso warns Ferrari: Our car is too slow to win the title ahead of Vettel and Hamilton

|

UPDATED:

13:38 GMT, 25 September 2012

Fernando Alonso has told his Ferrari team they must step up their efforts if he is to win the drivers' title this year.

Alonso finished a creditable third in the Singapore Grand Prix last weekend, and could have been forgiven a grin within his helmet when he saw nearest championship challenger Lewis Hamilton retire early with a malfunctioning gearbox in his McLaren.

But the Spaniard has gone four races without taking the chequered flag, and with Red Bull's Vettel winning the Marina Bay night race, another formidable challenger replaced Hamilton in second place in the standings.

Concern: Fernando Alonso (right) is worried about the pace of his Ferrari

Third time's a charm: Alonso is hoping to win his first world title with Ferrari

'In the end it went well but we definitely can't go on like this,' Alonso said. 'It can't always be the case that my closest rival retires, as has happened in the last two races, and we can't think of carrying on to the end of the season with qualifying sessions like (Saturday) when our performance was almost a second off the best.'

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali agreed that improvement was necessary, particularly given the nature of the tracks in the remaining six races, with South Korea and Abu Dhabi requiring similar car set-ups.

'Clearly we need to make a step forward in terms of performance, because we cannot rely purely on the misfortune of others,' Domenicali said. 'Having said that, we mustn't over-react as it's better to bring a few updates that work rather than bringing too many. This is the area where we need to improve and it will be one of our priorities in the coming days.'

For Vettel, the Singapore win provided renewed hope of becoming just the third man – after Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher – to win three straight drivers' championships.

It was only his second win of the season, but with the remaining circuits tailored toward a more nimble car, and not requiring the outright speed the Red Bull lacks, the German now looms as Alonso's chief rival.

Looking dangerous: Sebastian Vettel won the Singapore Grand Prix

Title hopes: Lewis Hamilton stuttered in Singapore but is not out of the race

'It's looking better than before,' Vettel said. 'We have a lot of races left, the car seems to be competitive and we just have to use the momentum and keep pushing for these last races and see what happens.'

Hamilton's season is continuing on its feast-or-famine pattern, with his past five races yielding two wins and three non-finishes. The Briton was not distracted by ongoing rumors about the possibility of him leaving McLaren for Mercedes, and showed that by setting pole position and comfortably leading the race until the gearbox failed on lap 23 of 59.

That non-finish meant Kimi Raikkonen retained his third place in the standings, despite the Lotus driver not having won a race this season. No man has ever managed to take the title without winning a race, but if he keeps totting up the points while those above him fail, the Finn can keep his chances alive.

McLaren's Jenson Button kept a pulse in his faint title hopes by taking second place in Singapore, while Red Bull's Mark Webber is above Button in the standings but had another disappointing weekend, crossing the line in 10th and then being dropped out of the points to 11th as a penalty for an overtaking move off the limits of the track.

Hamilton staying positive after McLaren driver is forced to retire AGAIN in Singapore

|

UPDATED:

07:50 GMT, 24 September 2012

Lewis Hamilton is hoping fortune will favour his brave effort to win this year's Formula One world title after his latest retirement.

Hamilton looked to be cruising to victory in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix when his McLaren ground to a halt on lap 23 with a gearbox failure.

It was Hamilton's fourth race from the last seven without scoring a point, with none of the issues his fault, to leave him now 52 points adrift of championship leader Fernando Alonso with 150 available.

Not again! Lewis Hamilton (right) had to retire form the Singapore Grand Prix after his car's engine failed

The wins in Hungary and Italy aside that have kept him in the hunt, it has been a wretched, unlucky run for the 27-year-old.

In the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Hamilton was running third when Williams' Pastor Maldonado ran into him on the penultimate lap.

In Germany, an early puncture dropped him to the rear of the field from where he failed to recover before retiring with a second puncture late on.

In Belgium, Hamilton was taken out at the first corner as Romain Grosjean caused a four car pile-up that led to a one-race ban for the Frenchman.

Then there was Sunday under the lights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit and the gearbox gremlins.

But a resilient Hamilton, after a period to calm himself and take stock, said: 'The car is in a good position, so if we can pick up our reliability then we can attack the final six races.

Cruising: Hamilton had been in good stead to win the race before the incident

Gutted: Hamilton looked disappointed in the paddock after he was forced to retire

'It is going to be hard to close the gap because Sebastian (Vettel), Fernando (Alonso) and Kimi (Raikkonen) keep on finishing race after race.

'I just have to hope this is the end of our bad luck this year. We have had such bad luck with crashes, DNFs, so let's hope we have some positive races from now on.

'We definitely have the car to win, perhaps a one-two. I just hope at some stage the fortune will be on our side and we'll get that.'

With regard the title, which Hamilton rightly concedes is becoming 'harder and harder', he added: 'We have six races left, so I have to keep pushing and win the rest of them.

'I won't give up. I will keep on going to the end because although I lost a lot of points in this race it is not the end of the world.'

Why always me Hamilton has ended four of the last seven races on no points

Vettel rebounded from his Red Bull's alternator failure in Italy a fortnight ago to record back-to-back wins in Singapore and close the gap to Alonso, who was third behind Jenson Button in his McLaren.

'The championship now looks better than before,' said Vettel, now 29 points adrift.

'There are a lot of races left and it's difficult to predict what's going to happen, so first of all we have to make sure we finish the races.

'The pace is there, and even if we are not quick enough to win then it is good enough to collect a lot of points.'

Paul Di Resta produced the best result of his F1 career to finish fourth for Force India, with Raikkonen sixth to fall 45 points behind Alonso.

Red Bull's Mark Webber is 62 points down after losing his point for 10th with a retrospective drive-through penalty and 20 seconds added to his time for leaving the track and gaining an advantage late on.

The busy stewards also hit Mercedes' Michael Schumacher with a 10-place grid penalty for the next race in Japan after he ran into the back of Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne, causing one of two safety car periods.

Maybe next time: The latest result was a serious knock to the Englishman's title challenge

Schumacher slapped with 10-place grid penalty after crashing into Vergne

|

UPDATED:

18:13 GMT, 23 September 2012

Michael Schumacher has been handed a 10-place grid penalty for the Japanese Grand Prix after smashing into the back of Jean-Eric Vergne in Sunday's race in Singapore.

Seven-times world champion Schumacher admitted liability for the accident that occurred just after the midway point of the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. It followed the restart after a safety car period for HRT's Narain Karthikeyan hitting a barrier across Anderson Bridge.

In what was a repeat of two previous incidents – one at this track last year and one earlier this season when Schumacher ran into the rear of Williams' Bruno Senna in Barcelona – the stewards decided to heavily penalise the 43-year-old for the next race in Japan.

Mistake: Schumacher was penalised for crashing into the back of Jean-Eric Vergne

Schumacher collected a five-place penalty for the subsequent race in Monaco after hitting Senna, one which saw him start sixth after he had set the fastest time in qualifying.

On this occasion, given it was a repeat offence, the punishment was doubled, with the stewards stating: 'The penalty takes into account this is the second similar offence by the driver this season.

'The driver admitted the collision was his error due to the failure to anticipate the braking performance of the car with lower grip following a safety car period.'

Carnage: Schumacher admitted guilt for the accident appearing to apologise to Vergne (below)

For his part, Schumacher said: 'It was obviously a very unfortunate ending to my race when I ran into the car of Vergne, who accepted my apology straight afterwards.

'I am not totally sure why it happened. I was braking, but the deceleration was not as strong as it usually would be and I could not avoid running into the car in front of me.

'We have to find out what happened. Up until then I think it would have been possible to get some points.'

Sorry: The veteran is facing a ten-place grid drop at the Japanese Grand Prix

As the two men climbed out of their cars, Mercedes driver Schumacher waited for Vergne to come across, immediately putting his arm around the Frenchman before they headed back to their respective garages.

Toro Rosso driver Vergne said: 'I was focussing on catching Perez at that point, trying to brake late to catch him, so I am not too sure what happened exactly.

'I assume Michael braked a bit too late and could not avoid running into me.

'There is no sense in being angry about it because these things happen in racing and even the most experienced driver on the grid can make mistakes. 'He said sorry and that's the end of it.'

Pic first to be hit with F1 community service rap for overtaking under red flags

|

UPDATED:

13:49 GMT, 22 September 2012

Marussia's Charles Pic has become the first driver in Formula One history to be handed a 'community service' penalty.

Pic overtook under red flags in the closing stages of final practice for the Singapore Grand Prix after Vitaly Petrov ran into a barrier in his Caterham.

After reviewing video evidence it was noted 22-year-old Frenchman Pic passed four sets of red lights or flags before making his pass.

Penalty: Pic

Pic will have 20 seconds added to his race time at the conclusion of the night event at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

But in a unique step, the stewards have also ordered him and his race engineer to perform a day of community service for the FIA's Action for Road Safety campaign at the instruction of president Jean Todt.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has finally conceded his team are trying to re-sign Lewis Hamilton on a reduced contract.

Sportsmail revealed that McLaren are
trying to shave one third off Hamilton’s 15million-a-season deal, which
expires at the end of the campaign.

Penny for your thoughts: McLaren want Lewis Hamilton to take a pay cut

But despite Mercedes offering to match Hamilton’s current terms, while bonuses could push his earnings to around 60m over three years, Whitmarsh admitted the 2008 world champion must accept a wage cut if he wants to remain with the Woking-based outfit.

Discussing the offer to Hamilton ahead of Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, Whitmarsh said: ‘I am sure he will want more money and I am sure we will want to pay less. That is how business normally works.’

Even so, Whitmarsh claimed that a new deal could be completed quickly once it becomes a top priority.

Referring to the protracted nature of
the contract negotiations, Whitmarsh added: ‘It seems a long time
because of the speculation that people have made but when you sit down
and seriously put your mind to entering into a new contract it doesn’t
take too long. I think it is a question of priorities and other things
we have been doing.’

It remains to be seen how long Hamilton is prepared to wait for his
future to be moved to the top of McLaren’s to-do list, but teammate
Jenson Button already appears to be weighing up the merits of potential
new partners, with both Paul di Resta and Sergio Perez earning his
praise.

When asked yesterday who he would fancy as a possible replacement for
Hamilton, the 32-year-old was in light-hearted mood. ‘I would like the
Incredible Hulk as my team-mate, he’s amazing,’ said Button, before
clarifying he meant the green giant and not Force India’s Nico
Hulkenberg — another promising youngster.

Leading the way: Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the first practice

Button went to McLaren to challenge himself against a driver regarded
as the fastest in the sport and beat him, the first team-mate of
Hamilton to do so.

The pair are not friends; they have little in common. Nothing wrong with
that, but when Hamilton pulls stunts like publishing both his and
Button’s telemetry information on Twitter, there are bound to be
consequences. In the light of such increased friction with his team-mate
it is perhaps easier to understand why Button recently issued a glowing
endorsement of Di Resta, the Force India driver who recently joined his
management company.

‘He is very, very talented and he has got his head screwed on,’ said Button of the Scot.

The praise for Perez was equally grand as Button addressed Ferrari
president Luca di Montezemolo’s assertion that the Sauber starlet lacks
experience.

‘He (Perez) is a quick learner,’ said Button. ‘He can’t be bad if he is doing as well as he is.’

Vettel sets the pace as Hamilton finishes fifth in second Singapore practice session

|

UPDATED:

15:34 GMT, 21 September 2012

Sebastian Vettel doubled up in practice to post the fastest times in both of Friday's sessions for the Singapore Grand Prix.

In the initial 90-minute run reigning champion Vettel edged McLaren's Lewis Hamilton by just 0.049 seconds around the five kilometres of the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

The duo were in a class of two as their rivals were left trailing at the end of a session that started in daylight, went through dusk and finished under the 1,500 halogen lamps that ensure darkness is kept at bay.

Leading the way: Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the first practice

In session two it was a slightly
different story as Red Bull's Vettel was comfortably out in front by
0.311secs, closing with a lap of 1:48.340, over two seconds faster than
in FP1.

That, however, was due to the use of
the supersoft tyres in FP2 that no team employed earlier on, and proving
what a sizeable difference they make on such a bumpy surface.

Instead of Hamilton as second
quickest it was team-mate Jenson Button who took the honour of falling
in behind the 24-year-old German eager to prove there is life in Red
Bull's championship challenge.

Out in front: Vettel had the best first practice

Vettel has mustered just one victory
so far this campaign, and that way back in April in Bahrain, since when
has been clinging on in the championship race.

In particular two alternator failures
in Valencia and last time out in Italy have seriously undermined his
hopes, casting him 39 points adrift of the championship leader in
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard had to settle for third
fastest, just over half a second behind Vettel, whose team-mate Mark
Webber was fourth, 0.624secs off the pace.
As for Hamilton, quickest early on and who set the initial pace on the
supersoft rubber, the 27-year-old was three quarters of a second down in
fifth.

Hot on the heels: Lewis Hamilton was second fastest in practice

Force India duo Paul Di Resta and
Nico Hulkenberg, who gave wind the Silverstone-based team were on the
rise on Italy, again look strong on this track.

The duo, a fraction under a second
behind Vettel, were split by just 0.039secs, with Di Resta just getting
the edge on his German team-mate.
Another German in Mercedes' Nico Rosberg was eighth quickest ahead of
Ferrari's Felipe Massa and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean, with Michael
Schumacher in 11th and almost two seconds adrift in his Mercedes.

The lights are on: Jenson Button works his way round the Singapore track

As for Kimi Raikkonen, in the hunt
for the title at 38 points behind Alonso even though he has yet to win a
race this season, the Finn is seemingly in no man's land at present on
this circuit, finishing two seconds down on Vettel.

Williams' Bruno Senna was the only
casualty of the two sessions, clipping a wall and spinning, causing a
red flag and an eight-minute delay.

Vettel sets the pace in Singapore but Hamilton is just behind after first practice

|

UPDATED:

12:50 GMT, 21 September 2012

Sebastian Vettel offered up hope Red Bull's Formula One world title challenge is far from over this season.

Reigning world champion Vettel has mustered just one victory so far this campaign, and that way back in April in Bahrain.

Since then Vettel has been clinging on in the championship race, in particular as two alternator failures in Valencia and last time out in Italy have seriously undermined his hopes.

The 24-year-old German goes into this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix 39 points adrift of leader Fernando Alonso, with Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen one and two points ahead of him respectively.

Leading the way: Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the first practice

But after a tough time in the last
two races, with the Red Bull found to be lacking in pace after opting
for a wrong choice of wing, Vettel at least finished top of the first
practice session.

A thunderstorm earlier in the day
swiftly brought an end to practice for one of the support events, the
Ferrari Challenge, and the Marina Bay Street Circuit was still wet when
GP2 practice began

But come the opening 90-minute F1
session, the 23-corner track over five kilmometres had virtually dried
out, unsurprising given the 28 degree heat, even as daylight moved to
dusk and into night.

Come the conclusion Vettel and
Hamilton were in a class of two out in front, the former finishing just
0.049secs ahead of the Briton, still to decide on his future and whether
to remain with McLaren or move to Mercedes.

As for the rest, team-mate Jenson
Button led the way, albeit almost nine tenths of a second adrift,
followed by Alonso, the Spaniard the only other driver to finish within a
second of Vettel at 0.959secs.

Hot on the heels: Lewis Hamilton was second fastest in practice

Williams' Pastor Maldonado, Mark
Webber in his Red Bull and Force India of Nico Hulkenberg were fifth,
sixth and seventh on the time sheet, the trio covered by 0.082secs.

Paul Di Resta had to contend with
being behind team-mate Hulkenberg by nearly three tenths of a second,
with Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez in his Sauber both
1.7secs off the pace as the duo rounded out the top 10.

Williams' Bruno Senna was 11th, but
more than two seconds down, followed by Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen, with
team-mate Romain Grosjean 15th as he returned to the cockpit of his car.

The Frenchman found himself on the
sidelines in Monza as he served a one-race ban for causing a four-car
pile-up at the first corner of the Belgian Grand Prix earlier this
month.

At the back of the field were the HRT
duo of Pedro de la Rosa and reserve Ma Qing Hua, the Chinese driver
given another outing ahead of Narain Karthikeyan for FP1.

On one of the most technically difficult circuits, Ma finished 1.4secs down on De la Rosa and 7.4secs behind Vettel.

Lewis Hamilton took the sting out of what could have become another feeding frenzy over his future by declining to answer any questions as to where he might be next season.

As revealed this week, Hamilton has two final contract offers on the table from McLaren and Mercedes, with the ball in his court as to where he decides to go.

In Italy a fortnight ago, courtesy of a remark from Eddie Jordan that terms had been agreed with Mercedes and an announcement of a deal was imminent, the subject of Hamilton's future was the only one in town.

Silent treatment: Hamilton refused to discuss his future at McLaren on Thursday

Two weeks on ahead of this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix and Hamilton has no desire to continue to discuss the matter.

As he took his seat ahead of one of his press sessions at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Hamilton said: 'Before we start, I'm not here to speak about anything but the weekend.

'I've no extra news for you, so use your time wisely to speak about other things if you can.'

Hamilton even refused to skirt around the issue when it was put to him team-mate Jenson Button has used speculation over his future in the past as a positive.

'I've not even thought about it,' said Hamilton, winner of two of the last three races in Hungary and Monza to push him to within 37 points of championship leader Fernando Alonso.

'I'm just focusing on this weekend. The most important thing is not to get excited about the pace we had in the last race because it is going to be different this weekend.

'Other people, like Fernando, have said they're going to be bringing an update this weekend, so I hope we have something to combat that.

So it was left to Button to put things into perspective for Hamilton, urging him to embrace his situation, no matter how tough the decision.

Button experienced something similar in 2009 as to whether he would remain with Brawn, which eventually morphed into Mercedes, or move on elsewhere, and again last season with his initial two-year McLaren deal expiring.

'I quite like it. It's quite exciting being in that situation,' said Button.

'I've never found it a bad thing when people have asked me where I'm racing, and when you've more than one interested party it's always nice for a driver.

'The only difficult time for me was with Williams and BAR (as there was a contract dispute), but that was for different reasons.

High spirits: Button was in a more convivial mood than his team-mate

'But when people have talked about whether I'm going to be at one team or another I've never had a real issue with it before.'

With rumours of Sergio Perez or Paul Di Resta joining McLaren should Hamilton depart, Button is keeping an eye on all the gossip and does care as to who his partner will be next season.

'I think it's great. Every day I read the papers and the websites – because we all do, even if we say we don't,' said Button with a smile.

'I don't know how much truth is in any of it – and I'm not saying you guys (the media) don't always write the truth – but there are many interesting things out there.

'There's a lot of talk and it's an exciting part of the season for everyone.

Renewing acquaintances: Button sizes up his car in Singapore

'For me, I'm all right for next year so it's more straightforward, but it's interesting reading all the rumours and the guesswork from everyone.'

And if he had a choice, it would appear he would prefer Hamilton to remain with McLaren, believing the 27-year-old a perfect yardstick against whom to measure his own performance.

Button said: 'I purposefully moved to McLaren because I wanted a competitive team-mate, and it's always fun judging yourself.

'Over a weekend, if you have a good day and you are in front of your team-mate then it means a lot more, and you really enjoy that moment.

'When you are behind it's frustrating, but you respect the fact he has done a better job than you.'It's really good having a competitive team-mate. That's the most important thing.'